Consortium shows off local talent

CONTEMPORARY MUSIC CONSORTIUM, First Unitarian Church, Sunday

Among the works at Sunday's Contemporary Music Consortium concert were three pieces by two local composers.

The concert, held in the First Unitarian Church, opened with Jeffrey Price's hauntingly beautiful "Tomorrow, at Dawn" for mezzo-soprano, clarinet and piano. Price is perhaps best known as a pianist, but as was evidenced by this work, he is equally talented as a composer.

"Tomorrow," a setting of a poem by Victor Hugo, was written last year for mezzo-soprano Ana Mihanovic, who sang it Sunday, accompanied by Price and clarinetist Milun Doskovic. The piece is richly romantic, reminiscent of Gabriel Faure's settings in its harmonic and melodic structure and its warm expressiveness.

Mihanovic sang the piece beautifully and with feeling. Her lyrical voice captured the luxuriousness of the music with a naturalness that was engaging. She is a singer one would like to hear more frequently.

Stan Funicelli was the other Salt Lake composer featured at Sunday's concert. A guitarist as well as a composer, Funicelli opened the second half with his "Distance and the Sea" for solo guitar. "Distance" is an evocative piece describing the stillness surrounding the Great Salt Lake. Funicelli creates a sense of vastness with his harmonic writing that is wonderfully captivating.

Funicelli's Sonata No. 1 for piano was the other work on the second half. Played by Price, it received its world premiere at this concert. The sonata is written on a grand scale with large, sweeping gestures throughout its four movements. Funicelli writes massive sonorities that are orchestral in concept, yet never overly ponderous. And Price's reading was notable for its nuances. It was a three-dimensional, articulate and succinctly executed performance.

Frank Ezra Levy is a composer who's known to anyone who attends the Park City International Music Festival. His Trio for flute, clarinet and piano was played Sunday by flutist Laurel Ann Maurer, clarinetist Russell Harlow and pianist John Jensen. The work is quite forceful and dramatic, though with a lyricism that tempers the intensity of expression. The threesome played the work with insight, exhibiting astonishing ensemble play that was imbued with feeling and conviction.

Two other works, by women composers, rounded out the concert.

The first of these, "Gabriel's Wing," for flute and piano, was written by Judith Shatin. Jensen and Maurer gave a stunning performance of this virtuosic piece that captured the richness of the music with its imaginative use of overtones.

The final piece was Gwyneth Walker's Sonata for flute and piano, played once again by Maurer and Jensen. Conventional in its writing, it is nevertheless delightfully melodic and fresh, and the two captured this vitality with their effervescent performance.

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